


Human After All

by bar2d2s



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, Hux-centric, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 17:51:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5752639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to what Kylo had once thought, his general was actually rather well-liked by the crew of the Finalizer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human After All

Contrary to what Kylo had once thought, his general was actually rather well-liked by the crew of the Finalizer. Respected, yes. Feared, oh definitely. But also almost universally regarded as an alright fellow.

General Hux wasn't one for much idle conversation. He gave his subordinates commands, they followed them, and that was that. You would never catch him issuing a compliment or asking someone about their day. His praises for work well done were few and far between, and highly prized at that.

What people liked about him, however, were not his authoritative words, but his all too human actions.

Hux ate in the officer's mess, not his own quarters. He knew all of his direct subordinates by name, and trusted them to know their own subordinates by designation as well. He greeted them when their paths crossed, and ate at a different table every day. Though he himself was quite secretive, he seemed aware of all the common gossip. He didn't take part in the joking and revelry his crew enjoyed when they were of duty, but every so often, his lips would curl into a smile at a joke or anecdote, and what a lucky day that was. 

The talk would sometimes turn to their ship's own antisocial knight, Kylo Ren, and his eyes would roll as guesses of what lay under the mask got further and further from the mark.

"It doesn't matter." He said once, gathering his glass and plate. "He wears it to appear as if he is more than a man, and the ruse works quite well."

As Kylo Ren ate in his own quarters, word of that statement never quite managed to get back to him.

Hux also kept up a strict training regimen, though it had been years since he'd seen more than one on one combat. He'd told Phasma one day, after she'd purposefully gone easy on him during their sparring, that he refused to become one of those high-ranking men that got soft with age. Soft, and content, and easy to assassinate. They sparred again. She beat him soundly, and he thanked her for her honesty.

She never went easy on him again, and because of that, he improved.

It was his dedication to his ship, though, that had opinion of him so high.

He and Kylo had been on their way back from a meeting with the Supreme Leader when the fire started. It wasn't particularly large; a small blaze from a sparking wire, whose floor panel had been left open and unattended for mere minutes while the technician fetched the right tools, but Hux ripped off his coat anyway, smothering and stamping out the rapidly-spreading fire before it could get any further down the hall, where it would have destroyed a handful of living spaces had it gone unnoticed.

Hux smoothed his hand over his head, tucking the few stray hairs back into place. His coat still lay on the ground, smoke weakly trickling out from beneath it. A Stormtrooper that had witnessed the event slowly bent to pick it up for him.

"Sir." The trooper's voice trembled beneath his helmet, and Hux accepted his coat, tucking it over his arm.

"Get someone on that immediately, and spread the word that any unusual electrical activity is to be reported to maintenance. I will not have anyone on this vessel die because of negligence."

"Yes, sir."

Kylo cocked his head at the trooper's retreating back, his almost reverent assent still ringing in his ears. Though they were often bedfellows, even he had never seen Hux do something that...selfless.

"Yes?"

The word rang through the corridor, and Kylo flinched. He'd been staring.

"Merely reflecting on how unexpected your actions were." Hux snorted, brushing the ash off of his coat, more for something to do than anything else. He'd need to use his backup until a new one could be acquired; this coat was ruined.

"I am responsible for the lives of everyone on this ship, Kylo Ren, in combat and out of it. I will not go down in history as the first general to lose men in an electrical fire." With that, Hux turned on his heel and strode back the way they came, presumably to find and berate the technician that had left their work incomplete.

It was with a dawning realization that Kylo became aware exactly _why_ Hux was so highly regarded. He was a cold, imposing man but...he honestly cared about the lives of the people who served under him, and wished for them to continue. He cared about the lives of everyone on the Finalizer. Beneath his mask, Kylo Ren smiled.

Even if he wasn't aware of it, Hux had just admitted that he cared about him, in one way or another. The knowledge was a sweet, private victory, and watching Hux try and deny it once he realized would be even sweeter.


End file.
